Sakura Sushi Japan

Located in an unglamorous strip mall, I was surprised to see that the interior of the Sakura Sushi Japan was so attractively decorated. The room was clean and comfortable – I liked the extra decorating touches, namely the white lanterns and the wood wall panels. Sakura is a family restaurant too – the servers seem genuinely delighted when children arrived with their parents.

If you ordered a bento box ($9.99-13.00), you could easily get a meal for two for under $25.00. However, L and I usually avoid the California roll and teriyaki combos in lieu of sashimi and some of the specialty rolls. Instead, we ordered the seafood salad, chop scallop nigiri, agadashi tofu, House Roll, Sakura Roll, and a bowl of chirashi.
One thing I noticed about Sakura was the chef would purposely stagger the food at a leisurely pace, which made eating so much more enjoyable. For $1.50, the chop scallop was a steal. The ratio of scallop was double that of the rice. The scallops were creamy and cool on my tongue. I was also happy to see that the white ginger was served instead of the pink variety.
The seafood salad was our favourite dish. The dish contained an abundance of crisp lettuce, lightly blanched broccoli, thinly sliced tomatoes and assorted sashimi. Aside from the usual salmon, tuna, scallop, and surf clam variety, it also contained chop scallop and two pieces of raw shrimp. For $7.50 – this was a hell of a deal. L and I both agreed that next time, we would order our own seafood salad.
Next up was the House Roll ($6.50). The roll came in large 5 pieces, packed full of salmon, tuna, avocado, lettuce, cucumber and a piece of shitake mushroom. I liked how each piece was covered in gold coloured roe. It was like eating glittered sushi.
L wasn’t as impressed with the chirashi ($11.50). I had to remind him not to compare it to our favourite Japanese restaurant. After all, Sakura charged less than half the price than Wa’s. There was about 8 or so pieces of assorted fish, plus two pieces of amaebi. I like the addition of gold and red tobiko – just add some green tobiko and we’d have a Christmas chirashi. I only wished Sakura would serve this dish in a bowl, which would make it a lot easier for me to eat it.
The Sakura Roll ($12.00) contained 2 prawns, and it was topped with different types of fish (salmon, ebi, tuna, etc.). Each piece had two pieces of seafood that was artistically melded together. Cut into 8 big pieces, this was a value packed roll. However, next time I’ll ask omit the citrus sauce that was drizzled underneath the roll. It’s just a personal preference – I prefer my rolls with just a tiny smear of wasabi and a splash of sodium soaked soy sauce.
The agadashi tofu was average ($5.00). We got 6 smallish pieces. The tofu was fine – it just wasn’t anything special like the seafood salad.

Our meal was around $50.00. If we lived closer, L and I would definitely drop by again. Service was good and some dishes, particularly the seafood salad, was worth ordering again.